Another Roster Correction

Happily, I continue to receive emails regarding members of the First Georgia.  Thanks to George Stanholtz for providing the burial location of Private Wesley Pressley of the Dahlonega Volunteers.  Pressley’s amended roster entry is as follows:

Pressley, Wesley: Enl. 24 July 1861. D. Romney, VA 31 January 1862. B. Indian Mound Cemetery, Romney, Hampshire Cty, WV.

I'd also like to thank Wendy Hockenberry, a descendent of several First Georgia soldiers, for contacting me regarding her relations from Company I, the Walker Light Infantry. In my research for the rosters, I found in my sources entries for two John M. Weigels, one born in 1811 and another in 1841. Other than these dates, the information for the two men is almost identical; thus, the following entries in I Will Give Them One More Shot:

Weigel, John M. (2): Enl. 1 August 1861. Enl. Co. A, 12th Bn., GA Art. 13 July 1862. Converted to Co. A, 13th Bn. GA Art. October 1862. Co. converted to Co. A, 63rd Inf. Regt. December 1863. Appt. 11th Cpl. July [August] 1863. WIA Kennesaw Mountain, GA 27 June 1864. D. from wounds 13 July 1864. [Other records show enl. Augusta Battery.] B. 1841. Bd. Magnolia Cemetery, Augusta, Richmond Cty.

Weigel, John M. Sr., (2): Enl. 1 August 1861. Enl. Co. A, 12th Bn., GA Art. 13 July 1862. Co. converted to Co. A, 63rd Inf. Regt. December 1863. WIA Kennesaw Mountain, GA 27 June 1864. D. from wounds 11 July 1864. B. 29 May 1811. Bd. Magnolia Cemetery, Augusta, Richmond Cty.

With information provided by Ms. Hockenberry, it appears that the two were not father and son, but were possibly related.  Also, burial records show a slightly different spelling of the last name. One was born in Maryland in 1842 and lived until 1907, while the other was born in Richmond County (Augusta) in 1841 and died of wounds in 1864.

The corrected roster entries for the two read as follows:

Weigel, John [Weigle] (2): Enl. 1 August 1861. Enl. Co. A, 12th Bn., GA Art. 13 July 1862. Converted to Co. A, 13th Bn. GA Art. October 1862. Co. converted to Co. A, 63rd Inf. Regt. December 1863. Appt. 11th Cpl. July [August] 1863. WIA Kennesaw Mountain, GA 27 June 1864. D. from wounds 13 July 1864. [Other records show enl. Augusta Battery.] B. [29 May] 1841. Bd. Magnolia Cemetery, Augusta, Richmond Cty.

Weigle, John Michael [Weigel], (1, 2): Enl. 16 December 1863 Capt. Holleyman’s Co., 1st Regt. Local Troops (Augusta). Elected 2nd Corp. Reenl. 24 July 1864 when Co. converted to Co. C., 1st Regt. Local Troops. Prom. 5th (Orderly) Sgt. Listed on muster rolls as “Exempt as practical printer” through April, 1864. B. 23 February 1842.  D. 20 November 1907. B. Magnolia Cemetery, Augusta, Richmond Cty.

These entries will be corrected in any future editions of I Will Give Them One More Shot.  It has always been my desire to make the rosters as accurate as possible, and I continue to encourage any descendents of First Georgia soldiers to contact me with updates.

Diary Continues

Saturday, July 13th, 1861.—At daylight this morning, our “rear guard” arose, almost shivering with cold, caused by the rain which had been steadily falling on us during the night. After a march of a mile and a half, or two miles, we came up with the brigade, and found many of the boys eating parched corn, with a relishing and greedy appetite, most of our provision wagons being upset in the mountains during the previous night. Here, I was reminded of the march of the children of Israel, under the command of Moses and Aaron, when the children began to murmur for bread, &c., &c. Every exertion was made by Capt. Crump and Lieut. Wheeler, (who came to the camp the night previous,) to procure something for their company to eat, but with little success.

After the three Virginia regiments of infantry were placed in front, and the 1st Georgia regiment bringing up the rear, we started on our weary march, the rain still pouring in torrents, and every man as wet as water could make him. We had marched but a short distance, when the Lincoln army came up in the rear, and gave us battle. The fighting continued until evening, during which we lost our commanding General. A braver or more noble and worthy man never fell on the field of battle. That he was brave and daring, we need no better proof than his conduct during this engagement. During this battle, a portion of the Georgian regiment was cut off from the main body of the army, and being among that number myself, I can speak in my future notes, only of that unfortunate squad, which consisted of Maj. Thompson, of the Field Staff, Capt. Crump and Lieut. Russell of the Walker Light Infantry, with about half their company; Capt. Pinckard, of the Quitman Guards, Capt. Jones of the Washington Rifles; Capt. Evans, of the Bainbridge Independents, and Capt. Ezzard of the Gate City Guards, together with a portion of every company in the regiment, numbering in all about three hundred. Late in the evening after we had retired some distance from the battlefield, on the side of the mountain, a council was held by the commissioned officers present to come to some determination as to our mode of getting out of the mountains, and joining our comrades. It was here determined to make our way across the mountains, through the wilderness, in search of the turn-pike leading to Staunton—Capt. Crump and Lieut. Russell, of the Walker Light Infantry, only, voting to return and fight our way through a desperate foe to our boys, being ignorant of their fate. As to the relative strength of the two armies here, I will only say that the Lincolnites out-numbered us, two to one. Maj. Thompson taking the bridle, saddle, &c., off his horse, throwing them in the bushes and turning the horse loose, we crossed the mountains, and slept during the night in a glade some two or three miles from the battle field, not, however, out of hearing of the guns of the enemy.

Sunday, July 14, 1861.—This morning at day light we started on our march through the hills, weak from hunger, and somewhat discouraged with the gloomy prospect of finding food to-day. It is thought by those of our company having maps in their possession that we are within twelve miles of the turn pike, and that we will reach it this evening. Marching through a laurel range of mountains, almost impassable, nearly all day, we halted in the afternoon, and ate freely of birch bark, and a kind of grass of week called “sheep-sorrel.” It will be remembered that a large number of our company have had nothing to eat since Thursday morning, and have been on a tedious and tiresome march since that time.

After a brief rest, we renew our gloomy march, eating bark and grass as we journey. Night finds us in a rough, rocky ravine near one of the many small, swift mountain streams that course their way through the laurel forests of this cold, dismal, and uninhabited portion of the mountains of northern Virginia. It is raining. Who can imagine our condition? our feelings? We are only kept from suffering severely from the cold, during the day by the most active exercise; and now night is upon us, and such a night! Nothing heard except the falling of the rain drops, the running of the aforesaid brook, and the croaking of a raven in some hollow tree farther up the mountains. Here we must rest for the night. We cannot move, or we might pitch from the top of a precipice into eternity. How shall we sleep? We have no blankets! We have divested ourselves of everything except what we wear, and many have had their clothes nearly torn from them by the brush in passing through the laurel thicket.

What would our mothers and sisters think, and say, if they knew our condition? I have just heard a member of the Walker Light Infantry say that he would not have his wife know of his present sufferings for a million of dollars; another said he would not have his mother made acquainted with his present situation for twice that amount. I feel around in the dark for a place to sleep. I prop myself against a tree to prevent my rolling down the mountain, and soon I am asleep. I dream—but not of HOME. Here I shiver with cold, half sleep, and half awake, until morning.

Dahlonega Literary Festival

On this Veteran's Day, I would like to take a moment to thank the veterans from all branches who have served and now serve in war and peace for their commitment to secure and preserve the freedoms that we citizens of the United States enjoy. 

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On the road again this weekend - this time to Dahlonega, Georgia, for the Dahlonega Literary Festival.  My ancestor who served in the First Georgia was a member of the Dahlonega Volunteers, Company "H" of the First.  I will have a table where I will be signing and selling books, and on Saturday morning will be participating in a forum on local history.  I invite all who might be in the neighborhood to stop by and say hi. 

More information on the Festival can be found here.

Roster Additions

As mentioned in my previous post, I've come up with additional soldiers who served in the First Georgia.  Follows is a listing of those troops - (1) is for a soldier present when the regiment formed in Macon, (2) is for one present when the regiment mustered out in Augusta:

Company B, Southern Guards

Bradford, Berry: Enlisted Sept. 1861. Transferred to Co. G, 29th Inf. Regt. Captured 15 Dec. 1864. Discharged at Camp Chase, OH, June 1865.

Brown, Samuel: (no further info)

Barnett, J. W.: Reenlisted, unit unknown. Surrendered at Greensboro, N.C., May, 1865.

Company D, Oglethorpe Infantry

Newsom, John W. (1,2)

Whitley, William (2)

Company E, Washington Rifles

Youngblood, A. (2)

Company F, Gate City Guards

Fish, John M. (2): Reenlisted, unit unknown. Captured and exchanged, location and date unknown. On detail duty in Savannah hospital 1865.

Company H, Dahlonega Volunteers

Cardin, C. R. (2)

Crenshaw, Thomas H. (1,2)

Hensley, LaFayette (1,2)

Strochan, Joseph W. (2)

Company I, Walker Light Infantry

Brown, Joseph (2)

Hooks, J. (1,2)

Company K, Quitman Guards

Banks, I. P. (1,2)

Kendrick, W. B. (2): Enlisted 1862. Reenlisted, unit unknown. Captured, date and location unknown. Paroled Washington, GA, Nov. 1865.

As always, if anyone knows of other soldiers who should be included, please let me know.

A Question of Two Bells

Even though my history of Ramsey’s First Georgia Volunteers has been out for several months now, my research on the regiment continues as I follow up on leads and resources not available before publication. New sources that I was unaware of continue to make their appearance. A perfect example is an early roster of the First that I just recently acquired. The booklet is quite old and not in very good condition, as evidenced by the scan of the cover shown above. It also has no information about author, printer or even date published. The person I purchased it from estimated it was probably printed in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.

In searching through the roster, I’ve come across some sixteen soldiers who do not appear in any other source I’ve seen. And in one case, the new listing has lead to a bit of a confusing mystery. In the roster included in I Will Give Them One More Shot is a listing for a Joseph H. Bell, a member of the Dahlonega Volunteers, Company H of the First Georgia. Most of my information about Bell came from the Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, edited by Lillian Henderson, and from the Compiled Service Records, held by the National Archives, and accessible through Footnote.com. These records simply state that Bell mustered in on March 15, 1861, and mustered out on March 18, 1862.

The entries in the old roster pamphlet revealed two Bell’s, as follows:

Further research has revealed that Bell, Jos. H., Jr., was the son of the Joseph Bell that shows a muster date of March 18, 1861. The notation that Jr. was “in prison at time of surrender” was intriguing. By performing a name search in Footnote, I discovered a folder for Joseph H. Bell of the 21st Battalion Georgia Cavalry. As I read through this record, another mystery began to develop – though the CSR was only under one name, there were showing two different enlistment dates in the 21st; one on April 15, 1862, and the other on November 1, 1862. It finally began to dawn on me that both father and son had also ended up in the 21st – and that their records had been mixed together by accident. Evidently the clerk assembling the package assumed that the two Joseph H. Bell’s were the same man, even though on some records there is a “Sr.” after the name, and others not.

After sorting the different cards in the record between the two men, (and also checking some other genealogy sites), I was able to put together the following entries:

Bell, Joseph Henry, Sr. (1,2): Enl. Augusta Mounted Rangers 15 Apr. 1862. Unit designated Co. A, 21st Battalion Cavalry 8 May 1862. Unit consolidated into 7th Regt. Cavalry 13 Feb. 1864. B. SC 6 May 1819. D. 21 Aug. 1905, Upshur Cty, TX. Bd. Hopewell Cemetery, Gilmer, Upshur Cty., TX.

Bell, Joseph Henry, Jr.: Enl. 1 Apr. 1861. Enl. Co. A, 21st Battalion Cavalry 1 Nov. 1862. Unit consolidated into 7th Regt. Cavalry 13 Feb. 1864. Cap. Trevellian [Louisa Courthouse], VA, 11 June 1864. Released on oath at Elmira, NY, 21 June 1865. B. 1844. D. Schlatterville, Pierce Cty, GA 1902.

(As in the roster in my book, the (1) is for a soldier present when the regiment formed in Macon, and the (2) is for one present when the regiment mustered out in Augusta.)

Thus, I hopefully have presented a more accurate picture of Joseph Sr. and Jr.’s service. I continue to look for any and all details on the First Georgia, and I encourage anyone who has additional information to please contact me through my website at http://www.ramseysfirstgeorgia.com/.

Baptism of Fire

150 years ago today, the First Georgia Volunteers experienced their first taste of combat.  A picket post in advance of the fortifications at Laurel Hill, manned by the Gate City Guards, was attacked by Union skirmishers.  Ordered to advance the First in support of the pickets, Colonel Ramsey divided his regiment, taking five companies around the Confederate left in search of reported Federal activity there, and sending the remaining four companies, under Lt. Colonel James O. Clarke, around the right.  Coming abreast of a hill to the right of the Gate City Guards position, Clarke was informed that Union troops were coming up the opposite side, probably trying to outflank the Guards.  Clarke sent two companies, the Bainbridge Independents and the Walker Light Infantry, further down the road to protect his flank.  Forming the Dahlonega Volunteers and the Quitman Guards into line of battle, Clarke raised his sword and led the soldiers in a charge, yelling "Up the hill, boys!  And remember you are Georgians!"  Clarke's men hit the Federals at the top of the hill.  The Independents and the Walker Light also charged up the hill in support, and after several minutes of vicious fighting, the Georgians drove the Union troops off the crest. 

The image at the top of the page, taken from Leslie's Illustrated News, shows the battle.  In the foreground are Union troops.  The soldiers in the distance on the hillside are the Georgians.

The Men Are On The Way

150 years ago today, a flood of submissions began to pour into government offices in the Georgia state capital at Milledgeville as militia units from across the state responded to Governor Brown’s call for volunteers. Eager to go to war, some 250 units tendered their services. To simplify the selection of which companies would be included in the first infantry regiment, it was decided to accept them in the order by which their tender was received (with one exception – more later). The very first to proffer their services was the Newnan Guards of Coweta County.  As a result, the Guards would be designated as Company “A” of the First Georgia Volunteer Infantry. The Guards and several other companies received orders to travel to Macon, where they were combined to form the First Georgia. March 18 was listed as the regiment’s official date of muster, as it was the date that the companies’ tender was received by the government. The other units chosen to make up the regiment were as follows:

B – Company “D” of the Southern Guards, Muscogee County
C – Southern Rights Guard, Houston County
D – Oglethorpe Infantry, Richmond County
E – Washington Rifles, Washington County
F – Gate City Guards, Fulton County
G – Walker Light Infantry, Richmond County
H – Dahlonega Volunteers, Lumpkin County
I – Bainbridge Independents, Decatur County
K – Quitman Guards, Monroe County

In addition, four additional companies, the Macon Independent Volunteers, Ringgold Volunteers, Brown Infantry and Etowah Infantry were assembled to create the First Georgia Infantry Battalion.

The exception mentioned above was the Dahlonega Volunteers. Georgia in early 1861 was not entirely in favor of secession - several northern counties contained definite Unionist leanings. Governor Brown, who had spent much of his younger days in that section, decided that having a mountain company would help draw those counties toward supporting separation. Thus, the Volunteers received orders to report to Macon.

The men were on their way.  Few had any inkling of what they were bound for.

The Brothers War, Part 1

The American Civil War. The War Between The States. The War of the Rebellion. The War of Northern Aggression. The conflict that raged between 1861 and 1865 has come to be known by many different titles since the war’s end.

The name that has come to mean more to me since my younger days would be “The Brothers War.” There were countless examples of families torn apart by politics, or by a string of circumstances which placed siblings on opposite sides. Such circumstances led to two of my ancestors finding themselves in rival armies.

These two brothers, William Henry and Cummings Marshall, were born in Lumpkin County, Georgia, in the 1840’s. Their father, Abel Cummings Marshall, the brother of my great-great grandfather, had come from the forests and rock-strewn farms of northern New Hampshire to the gold fields near Dahlonega in search of his fortune. Shortly thereafter, he married Lucinda Hawkins of South Carolina. Over the next few years Lucinda gave birth to four children – William Henry, Cummings, Melinda, and Martha.  Abel disappeared from records sometime in the 1850’s – my suspicion is that he followed other miners to California seeking gold, though I have yet to substantiate that. In any event, Lucinda was left to raise her children by herself (the 1860 census lists her as head of household). Cummings also left the family – he journeyed to New Hampshire to live with relatives there. (More on Cummings later)

In early 1861, twenty-one year-old William Henry Marshall enlisted in the Dahlonega Volunteers, and soon was parading on the old Mustering Grounds in Dahlonega, from which North Georgia volunteers had assembled for earlier conflicts such as the Texas War for Independence and the Mexican War. Called by Governor Joseph E. Brown in late March to proceed to Macon, the Volunteers were designated Company “H” of the First Georgia Volunteer Infantry. William Henry was engaged in all the First Georgia actions, including Laurel Hill, Cheat Mountain, Greenbrier River and the Bath-Romney Campaign, and was among those Georgians lost in the Allegheny Mountains after being cut off from the Army of the Northwest at Kalers Ford. After mustering out with the regiment in Augusta on March 10, 1862, William Henry reenlisted on May 6 in the Fulton Dragoons, which became Company “B” of Cobb’s Legion of Cavalry (later Company “G”). Muster rolls for November and December, 1863, and March and April 1, 1864, list him as absent at recruiting camp. He was received at General Hospital No. 9 in Richmond on October 19, with the disposition written as “Duty”. His last military entry shows him admitted to C.S.A. Hospital No. 3 at Greensboro, North Carolina in April of 1865.

In my next post, I’ll talk about William Henry’s brother, Cummings, who was in the Union army, and what happened to the brothers and their family after the war.